Scottish parliament to vote on independence on Tuesday: official
Edinburgh: A vote in Scotland’s parliament on supporting first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a new independence referendum will be delayed until Tuesday in a gesture of respect following the attack on the British parliament.
The debate “will recommence on Tuesday at 2:20 pm,” a parliament spokeswoman said on Thursday, a day after the suspension of a high-profile debate in which Scottish lawmakers are expected to back Sturgeon.
Earlier, the Scottish lawmakers suspended their vote for a second independence referendum on Wednesday following a suspected terrorist incident outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
The Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh was just hours away from a landmark decision to ask the British government for permission to review Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom.
The ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) was expected to gain approval for its separatist ambitions with support from the Green Party, but the vote was put on hold after some opposition lawmakers left the debating chamber as events unfolded in London.
Security was stepped up at the Scottish Parliament and police cars dispatched to guard the entrance to the adjacent Holyrood Palace, Queen Elizabeth II’s official residence in Scotland.
An appeal from the Scottish Conservative Party, allies of the UK Government and the main unionist opposition in Edinburgh, to have the debate suspended shortly after the attack was initially rejected.
However, opposition party leaders took to social media to complain that it would be inappropriate to continue, and the Scottish parliament’s presiding officer Ken Macintosh eventually returned to the chamber to inform members that the debate would be suspended
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